Apiomerus flaviventris Herrich-Schaeffer

Berniker, Lily, Szerlip, Sigurd, Forero, Dimitri & Weirauch, Christiane, 2011, 2949, Zootaxa 2949, pp. 1-113 : 27-28

Apiomerus flaviventris Herrich-Schaeffer Figs 1–15, 17, Map 5

Apiomerus flaviventris

Herrich-Schaeffer 1846: 77 (original description); Uhler 1876: 328 (catalog); Uhler 1877a: 429 (regional checklist); Uhler 1877b: 1330 (taxonomy); Uhler 1894:284 (distribution); Lethierry and Severin 1896: 143 (catalog); Champion 1899: 233 (key, description); Fracker 1913: 236 (catalog); Barber 1914: 505 (distribution); Readio 1927: 155 (key); Wygodzinsky 1949: 16 (catalog); Costa Lima et al. 1951: 346 (revision); Szerlip 1971 (biology); Henry and Froeschner 1988: 619 (catalog); Eisner 1988 (biology); Maldonado 1990: 4 (catalog); Eisner et al. 2005: 108 (biology); Choe and Rust 2007 (biology); Forero et al. 2011 (biology).

Type data: Neotype (here designated): 1 ♂; MEXICO: Aguascalientes: 8 mi E Calvillo [21.82651 ° N 102.68334 ° W], 11 Jul 1983, Kovarik, Harrison, Schaffner / NEOTYPE ♂ Apiomerus flaviventris Herrich-Schaeffer 1846 Det. by: Berniker & Szerlip 2011 / ( UCR _ ENT 00031676 ) ( TAMU) .

Diagnosis: Recognized by its relatively large size (15.2–19.9 mm, Tab. 2), posterior pronotal lobe red with transverse black band, and yellow margin, frequently yellow abdominal venter, black and yellow banded connexiva ( Fig. 1K); female genitalia with anterior and posterior portions of gonapophysis 8 almost entire, as two adjacent sclerotizations ( Fig. 15K).

Redescription: Male: Large, total length 15.2–18.0 mm. COLORATION: HEAD: Black or red. THORAX: Anterior pronotal lobe black posteriorly, red or orange anteriorly, posterior pronotal lobe banded: red or orange, black, and yellow, margin of posterior pronotal lobe yellow, scutellum black or red with yellow margin, thoracic pleura black with a yellow circle on supracoxal lobes, corium orange or red, foreleg black, apex of femur and basal half of tibia orange or red, midleg tibia black except at base, femur similar to foreleg, hind leg similar to foreleg ( Figs 1K, 15C). ABDOMEN: Yellow ventrally, connexiva black and yellow banded, pygophore red, sometimes with dark band along midline. STRUCTURE: HEAD: about as long as pronotum, about 4 times width of one eye, length of eye in dorsal view about 1/4 of head length. THORAX: pronotum 1.3 times wider than long, anterolateral angle truncate, disc of anterior lobe with paired greatly convex lobes, posterior margin straight. ABDOMEN: pygophore about 1/4 length of abdomen, rami of the median process of the pygophore gently concave, nearly horizontal, ramus as long as base width ( Figs 2K, 3K, 4K, 5K). GENITALIA: distal portion of tergite 9 with setae on entire distal portion, posterior margin of dorsal phallothecal sclerite rounded in dorsal view ( Fig. 8D), apex in dorsal view wide, more than half the width of dorsal phallothecal sclerite, endosomal struts fused only at base, dorsolateral lobes divided into proximal and distal portions, proximal lobe tongue shaped, distal lobe subdivided into a medial and lateral lobe ( Fig. 8D), medial lobe smooth, lateral lobe with small denticles, median basal sclerotization tongue shaped ( Fig. 8A), distal dorsal lobe with a horseshoe-shaped field of strong denticles ( Figs 6K, 7K).

Female: Total length 17.0– 19.9 mm. STRUCTURE: ABDOMEN: syntergite 9/10 with distal margin emarginate ( Fig. 11 K). GENITALIA: gonapophysis 8 almost entire, two adjacent sclerotizations ( Fig. 15K), bursa copulatrix with two narrow, transverse sclerotized folds ( Fig. 14K).

Biology: This species has been studied to understand the use of plant resins in prey capture and maternal care in Apiomerus spp. ( Eisner 1988; Eisner et al. 2005; Choe & Rust 2007; Forero et al. 2011). Specimens examined were collected during all months of the year except February, and from sea level to 2896 m in elevation. They have been found on Acacia greggii (Fabaceae) , Baccharis glutinosa (Asteraceae) , Donnellsmithia hintonii (Apiaceae) , Melilotus albus (Fabaceae) , Opuntia sp. (Cactaceae) , Prosopis grandulosa (Fabaceae) , Prosopis juniflora (Fabaceae) and Quercus turbinella (Fagaceae) and feeding on honey bees (UCR_ENT 00019647) and scarab beetles ( Coleoptera : Scarabaeidae ) (UCR_ENT 00035836).

Distribution: Generally found in the following regions: mountains of southeastern Arizona, the Sonoran desert including southeastern California, and the Sierra Madre Oriental (Map 5).

Discussion: Apiomerus flaviventris is one of the more polychromatic species among members of the crassipes or pictipes species groups. Rather than having distinct color forms such as A. cazieri or A. wygodzinskyi (see discussions), individuals of A. flaviventris become progressively darker towards the southern areas of their range. Specimens collected from the southwestern parts of the United States have bright red pronotum and hemelytra, with very little or no black on the pronotum and legs, whereas individuals collected from central Mexico have thick black bands on the anterior and posterior lobes of the pronotum, dark red or orange hemelytra, and varying amounts of black on the legs ( Fig. 17C). There is also considerable variation in the male genitalia; however, there are no genitalic patterns which correspond to either color differences or geographic differences. Female genitalia are nearly identical. For these reasons, all of the examined individuals are here treated as A. flaviventris rather than dividing this taxon into multiple species.

As mentioned in the introduction, two manuscript names proposed by Szerlip (1980) and placed within the pictipes species group are not presently recognized as distinct species. These are “ Apiomerus tigris” and “ Apiomerus panther”. Given the current understanding of polychromatism in A. flaviventris , it is apparent that those specimens identified as “A. tigris” fall within the range of color variation exhibited by A. flaviventris , and that they represent the pattern exhibited in central and eastern Mexico ( Fig. 17C, USI 31680). There are no structural characters which differentiate these individuals from other A. flaviventris individuals. The manuscript name “A. panther” is not recognized because only one of the two specimens upon which the description was based (the female) was obtained for study in the current revision. The authors were unable to locate the male. Although the female is distinct in color, the pronotum and legs being uniformly black, it is similar in body size and genitalia to females of A. flaviventris , and may be an extremely dark individual of that species.

Apiomerus flaviventris shares its southern distribution with the northern range of A. pictipes , the only other member of the pictipes species group. Apiomerus flaviventris is larger than A. pictipes and can usually be distinguished by size alone. Although A. pictipes comes in many color forms (see A. pictipes discussion), only the form found in the Yucatan Peninsula looks similar to A. flaviventris , but it does not have the pattern of banding on the pronotum that A. flaviventris does, and generally has a striped abdomen as opposed to the yellow or brown abdomen of A. flaviventris .

Type designation: Apiomerus flaviventris was described by Herrich-Schaeffer from an unknown locality in Mexico. Much of Herrich-Schaeffer’s type material is assumed to have been destroyed during WWII ( Schuh & Slater, 1995), however the whereabouts of the material is more accurately described as unknown, as some of his types assumed to be lost or destroyed have subsequently been discovered ( Rider 1993; Juergen Deckert pers. comm.). Attempts by the authors to find Herrich-Schaeffer type material at the Museum für Naturkunde der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (ZMHB), Zoologische Staatssammlung München (ZSM) and the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, collections suggested as possible locations of Herrich-Schaeffer material (Juergen Deckert pers. comm.), were unsuccessful. Thus it was determined that a neotype should be selected. The neotype was selected using the description and the color plate in the original publication ( Herrich-Schaeffer 1846) as a guide.

Material examined: See Appendix; 895 specimens examined.